View a gallery of images on the rain garden construction at Town Hall.
In 2010, in partnership with the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, the Town of McCandless installed four rain gardens to help curb the water overflow into Pine Creek from the parking lot of the Lorrain Rogers Soccer Fields. When the McCandless/Northern Allegheny Heritage and Cultural Center was completed in 2017, the retention pond installed along Aufman Lane became the 5th rain garden. The gardens prevent heavy rainfall from carrying sediments and other pollutants into Pine Creek.
Using native plants and levels of filtering soil, the Town’s 3,000+ square-foot rain garden helps keep 250,000 -300,000 gallons of pollutant carrying storm water from running directly into our streams and rivers. Water that gathers pollutants as it travels to a stream will harm our water supply unless it is filtered in some way. The rain garden traps the water from a runoff source, like a parking lot, and lets it naturally filter through soil, sand, and stone before being absorbed back into the ground.
Benefits of a rain garden
- Keeps water clean my filtering rainwater runoff before it reaches local waterways
- Aids in protecting communities from flooding and drainage problems,
- Replenishes area aquifers by increasing the amount of water filtering into the ground
- Enhances the beauty of yards and communities
- Provides habitats for wildlife from birds to butterflies